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Today it was time for us to head out and see some temples. Getting in and to bed at 4am last night didn't help one bit. We both woke up with a serious dry mouth and didn't want to move our asses out of bed. But after a quick shower, some ice cold water we were ready to rock.
We decided to walk to the Grand Palace, this took us around 20 minutes. Were glad we didn't get a taxi or tuk tuk as the roads outside were crazy! Some man tried to con us by telling us that the palace was closed for tourists today and that we should go visit the big buddha instead. We've got used to the thai's (especially tuk tuks) trying to rip us off, so simply passed him off with a no thank you.
Once we got to the Grand Palace, James had to buy some funky elephant trousers as his shorts weren't long enough. They actually suited him, he wasn't alone in wearing these though. Most other men entering were buying them too.
The temple cost us 500 baht (£10) to get in, it included a free bottle of water so made it abit better. The grounds were massive and very impressive to look at. All the buildings were beautifully decorated with gold and really glistened in the sun. It took us around 2 hours to fully walk round. The Grand Palace was the home of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, we were expecting to see a huge emerald buddha, instead it turn't out to be a small one at the top of a shrine of gold. No pictures were allowed, but being sneaky with the GoPro we managed to get one :-) Outside we seen a lot of people gathering round a big font and putting flowers on there head covered in water, we just simply had to get involved. So off Kara went to dip the flower in the water and then continued to cover both of us in water with it. We didn't have a clue what this was for but it was actually quite refreshing.
We had a good walk around the grounds, took some pictures with some guards (they didn't smile much) then stopped for a ice cream and refreshments. We headed out to the road to look for a tuk tuk to our next stop. The Big Buddha :-) we were greeted by an army of tuk tuks, one buddha looking driver came running over to us. We asked to go to the big buddha, he told us ill take you to the Big Buddha and to see lots of little buddhas for 100 baht. We agreed and off we went, we first stopped at Golden Mountain, we walked inside and were greeted by loads of buddhas with a big buddha statue in the centre. All the young monks were cleaning the area at the time so had to be careful not to get drenched or slip over on the marble floors. The head of security came over to chat to us and was telling us they were cleaning to get it ready for a ceremony to welcome 95 new monks tomorrow. After a good little chat we headed back outside to our tuk tuk driver.
Off we shot again through the streets thinking we were heading for the big buddha, but no! He decided to drop us at a travel information centre (im guessing he was hoping we would book something, commission for him!) but we told him no, he was quite persistent and kept saying about 100 baht and he gets a gasoline coupon. In the end we asked to be dropped straight to the big buddha and would happily pay 50 baht extra just to be dropped off and hassled no more. He didn't like this much but we weren't being pushed into something we didn't want. Avoid tuk tuks, they are always trying to con you. Most we have encountered have been fair, but you notice a lot around the busy areas just trying to con you.
Once at the big buddha, we quickly popped into the good old 7 eleven for some drinks and had a good look around. The Buddha was huge! There were a lot of monks at this site and again lots of places to donate to them. It was very impressive to see but a shame you couldn't climb up as the view would have been awesome.
We left the big buddha, jumped in another little tuk tuk and got back to our hotel for 80 baht. We've learnt a lot today and seen some awesome things, been out for hours so it was time for an early night. Most tuk tuk drivers are not to be trusted, if you can find a taxi driver who will use the meter, you know he's trustworthy and its definitely the cheapest way to get around.
Tonight we headed round the corner for a quick bite to eat and got ourselves back to bed to feel refreshed for the long day ahead of us tomorrow. More temples in the day, then head to Siam to visit Hard Rock Bangkok and go to a sky bar :-) should have some interesting pictures for you all.
J&K over and out!
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